SDSU Astronomy Department Research Faculty
Paul B. Etzel
PhD 1986, UCLA
Professor, Director, Mount Laguna Observatory
Research Area: Close binary stars, photometry and spectroscopy
Research Interests: Interacting Binaries, stellar properties
Service Areas: Light Pollution Control, Large Robotic Telescope, CSU-wide
Astronomy
Robert Leach
PhD 1979, Harvard
Staff Scientist
Research Area: CCD technology, readout system development
Research Interests: CCD's, star formation, and galaxies
Douglas Leonard
PhD 2000, University of California, Berkeley
Assistant Professor
Research Area:
Observational extragalactic astronomy; optical and near-infrared
photometry and spectroscopy; spectropolarimetry
Research Interests:
Physics of supernova explosions; extragalactic distance
scale; cosmological uses of supernovae
Jerome A. Orosz
PhD 1996, Yale University
Assistant Professor
Research Area: Close binary stars, optical photometry and
spectroscopy
Research Interests: Black hole binaries, neutron star binaries,
light curve synthesis of close binary stars, accretion disk
physics, stellar photometry and spectroscopy, variable stars
Eric L. Sandquist
PhD 1996, UC Santa Cruz
Associate Professor, Undergraduate Adviser
Research Area: Stellar astronomy, theoretical astrophysics
Research Interests: Star clusters, stellar evolution, stellar
collisions
Allen W. Shafter
PhD 1983, UCLA
Professor, Department Chairman
Research Area: Interacting Binary Stars
Research Interests: Cataclysmic variables; extragalactic novae
William F. Welsh
PhD 1993, The Ohio State University
Associate Professor, Graduate Adviser
Research Area: Interacting binary stars, extrasolar planets, time
series analysis
Research Interests: Accretion-Powered Systems:
AGN, CVs and X-Ray Binaries; transiting exoplanets
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